


Get on First

by indi_go



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 15:23:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1946214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indi_go/pseuds/indi_go
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tajima really likes Hanai, and goes through elaborate set-ups in order to try to kiss him. Hanai sees through them all and avoids them... but his feelings for Tajima grow stronger throughout the day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get on First

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zetsubooty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zetsubooty/gifts).



> Thought I'd take a shot at first person. Hope you like it!

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

I sat up with a start. _NNNNNNNnngggggggg. It's too early for practice. Why does Momokan always hold practice at such bizarre hours?_

I fumbled around on the nightstand for my glasses. _I wonder what time it is_ , I thought, knowing full well that it was 4:45 AM. But the clock had to be seen to be believed. Not sure what to hope for instead, I glanced over at the neon blue display. Dammit. Still 4:45 AM.

Today's practice was largely to focus on our base running. Sure, we have a few okay base runners, but we're often slow, and we are hardly ever a threat to steal bases. No matter how much Momokan and I teach them, though, they're not gonna be as good as Tajima...

My mind flashed back to yesterday's practice. Momokan had spent batting practice being her usual exuberant self and had pitted Tajima and I against each other once again. _I know we're rivals and all, but she's way too into fostering that._ He won, of course, and Coach stared me down with a look that could only mean “he beat you again, what are you going to do about it?”

I'd lost to Tajima before, and I'll probably lose to Tajima again. But it wasn't losing to him that rattled me. After we had finished and after Momokan had given me the death stare of motivation, Tajima plodded over to me.

“Hanai, Momokan seems really intent on having us go head-to-head today.” He laughed boisterously, even if the situation was only marginally amusing.

“Yeah, I suppose. I mean we do hit cleanup and fifth...,” I trailed off, not sure what else to say.

Tajima took the opportunity to butt in. “It's okay, though, I don't mind! You're the best competition I've got on the team in terms of batting, and not only do I get to show off, but everyone on the team gets to see how good the boy I like is at hitting!”

He promptly turned and started walking away with the usual spring in his step. “Well I've got to go hit the showers. See ya later, Hanai!”

 _Wasn't he blushing a bit when he said it, too? I sure know I felt my face getting flushed._ I shook my head a bit to clear away the thoughts. _I really ought to be focusing on today's practice. We need to work as hard as possible if we want to play in the Koshien._

 _How in the world am I going to deal with Tajima today..._ My mind drifted from the task at hand. _He's been more overt lately.... as if he had ever been subtle. He's probably going to be annoying during practice today._ I shook my head again. _No, I've got to focus on practice. It's gonna be difficult to get Mihashi to run fast today. He's a good pitcher but he's so afraid of the opponents all the time. And Oki doesn't like to slide..._

I ran through my teammates, figuring out who needed what help, and what I needed to practice. Showering, dressing, and grabbing my school and baseball things, I rushed downstairs. Mom handed me lunch.

“Here's your lunch, Asuza! Have a good day and good luck at practice!”

I sighed probably a little too audibly at Asuza. “Thanks, mom. See you when I get home.”

 

 

Mr. Tsuyoshi led us through the normal mental conditioning drills, and then it was my turn to lead us through stretches. Once we'd finished, Coach Momoe called us over.

“As I mentioned last night,” she began, “we need to work on our base running. With the exception of Tajima –,” she glanced over, and Tajima beamed in the goofy way that he always does, “– none of you guys are really threats for stealing bases or for turning a single into a double, a double into a triple.”

“Now, Hanai is going to explain the drills and how they help. Make sure you practice them on your own if you can!”

Coach looked at me expectantly, and I turned to my teammates.

“Uhhhhhh.......” All the words had left my head. Damn. Usually I prepare a speech in the morning to describe the day's drills, but I had been too easily distracted.

Sakaeguchi piped up. “You okay, Hanai? You look confused.” I quickly glanced at Tajima.

“No, I'm fine,” I muttered. “Anyway, today's drills are as follows: Coach Momoe will throw easy pitches to you from the mound, and when you hit it, make sure you get to first without getting out. That's a warmup exercise, and we've got more intense ones lined up once we finish this. We'll need three outfielders, an infielder, and a first baseman on defense – we'll switch out as we run through the roster. Who--”

Tajima cut me off. “I'll play first!” He looked at me with fire in his eyes. He was up to something, but I didn't know what. “Sure. Tajima will play first.” I looked at the rest of my teammates. “Suyama, you cover infield. Mizutani, Izumi, Nishihiro – you guys are usually outfielders, so why don't you start out there. No worries, you'll get a chance to run too. Abe, Mihashi, you two lead off. I'll be right behind you.”

Practice started in earnest, and Abe hit it just over Suyama and made it to first easily. Good run through, good solid hit, good show. Dependable as usual. Mihashi, in his incredibly awkward way, managed somehow to hit the ball as well. He didn't quite make it in time, and he nearly died doing it, but he tried his hardest, and the drill was going to help, I could see.

I stepped up to the plate. “Good job, Mihashi!” I patted him on the back. “You're improving already, I can tell!” Momokan stared me down. Her first pitch was a fastball, rather than the easy lobs she'd given to Abe and Mihashi. She was challenging me. I squared up for the next pitch. Slower, out and low, just where I liked it. I swung hard and pulled it to left field, clear over Mizutani's head. _I'll get to first easily._

I glanced up, and realized what Tajima was planning all along. He was standing in front of the base, arms outstretched and making the dumbest duck face. _Well, he's no master of subtlety._ I couldn't run through the base, as I'd barrel him over, and risk injury to our best player. I couldn't slow down and get on base slowly, even though I'd definitely beat the throw to first – he'd try to kiss me then, as was his plan. _Dammit, I'll have to slide._

Going in feet-first, I aimed for the corner of the bag that Tajima wasn't standing in front of. As I went to the ground, I could tell that I had executed it perfectly. _Whew._ I tagged the corner of the base. Tajima's dangerous play had attracted the attention of Coach, who was now giving him a verbal lashing. “You could've hurt yourself and Hanai! What were you thinking?”

He looked at the ground and stifled a smile. He certainly couldn't tell Coach that he was trying to kiss me. “I don't know, I think I was just distracted!” He looked at me with a knowing grin.

Coach didn't care. “You better be paying attention next time! If I catch you doing something like that again, you'll be doing extra laps around the diamond after evening practice!”

The rest of practice thankfully went without any more face-touchy attempts from Tajima. Still... I was shaken. I managed to only hit a couple of looping balls over the infielder, and was tagged out at first on multiple occasions. Fortunately, my teammates seemed to get something out of it – Mihashi especially. By the end of morning practice he was was running as hard as he could, with the encouragement of his teammates. _I'm glad he's slowly gaining confidence … he needs it._

I changed out of my practice uniform and into my school uniform. Today's lesson was the Warring States Period. I love history, but man did my teacher ever make it boring. I spent most of the lesson trying not to nod off, but I managed to keep my bearing and take notes.

Mercifully, lunch came, and I reached and grabbed my lunch box out of my bag. When I looked up, I saw an excitable freckled face three inches from my face.

“Ah!” I jumped back in my chair and Tajima scooted back a bit. “What do you want?!”

“I just wanted to eat lunch with you! You and Abe always have strategy meetings during lunch, so I told Mihashi we should go over and join you two!” I glanced over, and sure enough Mihashi was talking meekly with Abe – if you could call that talking. “What do you say?”

I sighed. “Sure, Tajima. I'll eat lunch with you. Just no incidents like the one earlier today.” I stared him down, and he laughed.

“What, that? No worries, I won't try to do that again!” His smile said otherwise. _I really don't want to be dealing with him if he's going to be like this all day._

“Good. Well then, what are your ideas for strategy for our next practice game?”

“Well. I was thinking – what if Abe and I switched places after the sixth inning? They're a nationally ranked team and we don't want them getting comfortable with Mihashi pitching.” He had come prepared.

“Huh. That's an interesting thought. Your pitch-calling as catcher is certainly different than Abe's. And although he's very possessive of the plate, and a more fundamentally sound catcher –“ Tajima shot me a look, “ – it could be worth trying.”

“Hmmm. You're right, Abe will be hard to move off of home plate.” He reached down to grab his lunchbox out of his bag. In the process, he “accidentally” knocked my chopsticks off the corner of my desk where they sat. _Tajima, I wish you weren't so easy to read._

Normally, I would usually lean down, but I knew that as soon as I leaned down and in under my desk to pick up my chopsticks, he'd do the same and try to initiate face contact. Mihashi kept stealing glances at us, giggling and then conferring with Abe more. _Damn, you set this up, didn't you? AND you let Mihashi know. So now the whole team will now that you're crushing on me. Fantastic._

I remained resolute, and started eating my rice with my fingers. Tajima looked dismayed. “Sorry about that! I'll get them for you.” He leaned down, picked them up, and handed them to me.

“Thanks.” I gave him a death stare, and he just smiled in return, although I could tell he was disappointed. I'm sure my face was bright red.

The afternoon classes were all about cell biology, but I didn't pay attention. _Why does he keep trying to kiss me? Why do I keep thinking about it? Do I want him to?_ I glanced up at the blackboard. _No, I don't think I want him to... we're teammates, and it would only make things awkward. Yeah. I should probably pay attention to this lecture. The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Just like the Tajima is the powerhouse of the team. FOCUS!_

My mind was too cluttered for lessons, and the evening batting practice couldn't come soon enough. Momoe wanted us to practice fielding too, so she put me in left field, and Tajima occupied his usual position on third.

It was Sakaeguchi's turn to bat, and he hit a pop-up fly in between third and me. Tajima shot me a knowing look. Dammit. He walked toward me briskly, and I hurried out to catch the ball. As the ball arrived, I turned my shoulder into Tajima. He ran into it softly, and I could feel him kiss my shoulder. _Ugh._ I threw the ball back to the mound, and gave Tajima a death stare. He blushed.

 _He really needs to stop. I'll talk to him in the dugout after practice._ I was frustrated, confused, and angry. _I don't care that he likes me, I really don't – I might even like him, even if I'll never admit it to him, but he's making practice and school more difficult than it needs to be. Ugh._

We headed towards the dugout and I pulled Tajima aside. “What do you think you're doing!”

“You know exactly what I'm doing. You're cute!”

“I don't care if you think I'm cute! Knock yourself out! But don't distract me from class, and don't distract me from practice. And don't put yourself into danger. Just. Stop trying to kiss me through these contrived scenarios.” I glared at him.

He crossed his brow briefly, and then smiled. “Okay! So I'll just surprise you, then!” He swiftly grabbed my jersey, pulled it down, and kissed me on the lips.

And it was over. I stared at him, and my head was cloudy with thoughts. I liked it? I felt my face turning bright red. Tajima smiled wide at me. “See I knew you'd like it!”

He ran off bouncing to Mihashi. “Mihashi I kissed him and he liked it! I bet you I'll have a boyfriend by the end of the week!”

Mihashi bounced excitedly, “Go Tajima!”

Suddenly I realized I had to keep up captainly appearances. “TAJIMAAAA”, I roared after him. He shot a cute smile back.


End file.
